Music Critic Beatrice Lancet reviews The Lathums’ gig and praises their passionate performance and great connection with the audience
From the moment I stumbled across their debut album, How Beautiful Life Can Be, I thought that The Lathums would be a force to reckon with live onstage. I was right.
Feeding the audience energy and continuously interactingwith them, they came across as a band with an intense love of performing, who have a real synergy onstage together. With a mixed demographic waiting eagerly for the band to come on, they showed that they were able to bridge the gap between fans of classic indie and those of new sounds. Beginning with the dulcet tones of a cover of the track, ‘Caravan of Love’, they created excitement as they asked the audience through the lyrics, ‘are you ready/ for the time of your life?’ The darkness switched to soft yellow lighting as the band came on to rapturous applause.
The Lathums had transformed the space of the stage into their own ‘music and social club’, with plants adorning the stage, making it an engaging setting that was completely their ownand immersed the crowd into their world. Beginning with the fitting, ‘Say My Name’, the band were energetic and exciting, with frontman Alex Moore’s vocals as strong as in the band’ssecond album recording, From Nothing To A Little Bit More. As Radio X’s record of the Year, the song was a central sound on their album and it felt like a bold, epic beginning to a night which went from strength to strength as the band played through their biggest hits so far. Opening his arms wide, Moore signalled to the audience to sing along to the signature sound of The Lathums’ bright guitar riffs and big drums.
The setlist felt well-crafted across their different releases, balancing out soft emotional ballads with animated tracks which got the audience jumping along
The setlist felt well-crafted across their different releases, balancing out soft emotional ballads with animated tracks which got the audience jumping along. ‘Land and Sky’ kept the energy high with its dark and electrifying tone, with the ‘woahs’ getting the audience immediately involved in their performance. Slowing down the end of the track with the booming echo of the song’s central guitar riff in my ears, The Lathums illustrated exactly how their songs are perfectly suited to create a grand and rousing atmosphere live onstage, as it became an interesting way to transition into the nextsong. Drummer Ryan Durrans’ concentration on the tracks was powerful to see, as a band who are invested in giving it their all every night.
Contrasting with the heavily anticipates rockier intensity of tracks like ‘Fight On’ and ‘I See Your Ghost’, their sweet ballad ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ felt personable, intimate and unifying. The audience were singing along to each word, and you could see the band’s enjoyment on their faces. I am glad that they gave time to these softer and more introspective songs which original got me into their music as it felt like it drew the audience together in that moment.
Moore called out to the crowd, asking them, ‘how are we feeling about sing songing’, laughing along with us at this slip of the tongue and starting over to ask us to sing along. This intimacy with the audience felt so real, as we all began to ‘song’ along. Moore’s free and comically experimental dancing onstage had a vitality and carelessness which seeped into our appreciation of the song and made it a really special and fun experience. When guitarist, Scott Concepcion and new bassist, Matty Murphy played their guitar and bass solos together onstage, it was hard not to notice their connection as a band, who are clearly a family, and passionate about the role of sharing this passion for music with every single person in the venue.
…it was hard not to notice their connection as a band, who are clearly a family, and passionate about the role of sharing this passion for music with every single person in the venue
Seeing songs that just epitomise trying to work out modern life, such ‘Turmoil’ and ‘Struggle’, live onstage magnified the raw intensity of the lyrics, with everyone’s loud singing along just reminding me how The Lathums have connected to their listeners. By bringing in different instruments, such as Concepcion moving across the stage to play the piano in ‘Turmoil’ and extra guitars adding layers and a full sound, they effortlessly managed to recreate the larger-than-life sounds off their album, keeping the setlist fluid and constantly changing. What strikes me about such a young band is their versatility and the way they fully drew the crowd into being invested in each different story being told through their songs, with Moore constantly interacting and responding to the audience.
The band have spoken about seeing music as a way to share feelings, and I, for one, left the venue with the impression that I’d poured my heart into singing along to their raw and interesting lyrical stories. When they turned to the crowd to ask how they felt about album two, the question received a rousing response, so I cannot wait to see what future album three will have in store.
Enjoyed this? You also might enjoy:
Comments